‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’: Sebastian Stan Talks Making A TV Series Versus A Movie And Breaks Down The Ending Of ‘Avengers: Endgame’

‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ was supposed to arrive on Disney+ later this year, but the show seems to be cursed, as its production has had to shut down, first due to earthquake damage in Puerto Rico, and again in early March due to the coronavirus.  It seems that the majority of the series has been shot, but there is still a bit more needed before post-production can begin.

In the meantime, Sebastian Stan, who co-stars as James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, a.k.a the Winter Soldier, is promoting his latest film, the mostly-improvised drama ‘Endings, Beginnings’.  But of course, questions arose regarding ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, and he offered a few fresh insights into that project.

When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he was asked whether ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ would retain the same cinematic feel of the movies, or if it was more of a standard TV series, to which he replied that it was a bit of both.

“It felt like both. In a lot of ways, it felt like a movie… What I loved about it was that, tonally, it was very much in the same world that ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ was, which was one of my favorite experiences that I’ve ever had, period. So, in a sense, it was grounded and very much in the world as we know it. But, it’s also really jam-packed with a lot of massive, massive action scenes mixed with deep focus on character. That’s what’s really exciting about this. We’re getting to keep it in the world of the movies, so it’s recognizable that way, but at the same time, these characters are getting so much more mileage for all of us to explore them. We can put them in situations that we’ve never been able to put them in before because you now have six hours as opposed to two. It’s always a discovery.”

Stan also discussed the ending of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ which has divided some fans.  First, there is the question of whether or not Bucky knew that Captain America (Chris Evans) wasn’t coming back from his time travel journey to return the Infinity Stones.  While Bucky certainly seemed unsurprised when Steve didn’t rematerialize, some viewers weren’t satisfied with the quick goodbye the two shared before Cap vanished.

“…I sort of became aware that people really felt like we needed to have more between the two of them or something. But, it hadn’t occurred to me because at the same time, that scene was saying so much with subtext… So, I love how much people care about those two characters and that they wanted more from them, but I just took it as ‘This is as much screen time as we’ve got left before the movie ends.’ It was already such a long movie. And then, it’s just the knowledge that these guys have always known each other’s moves, so to speak. They knew each other so well that they could say, ‘Okay, I know what he’s going to do, what decisions he’s going to make and I support that.’… I played it as goodbye. What I was playing was, ‘Okay, I know he’s going, and he’s not going to come back. I can’t talk about it, because if I do, then they’re going to try and stop him from doing what he wants to do. So, I’ve gotta support that.'”

Finally, there is the question of why Steve gave the shield to Sam (Anthony Mackie) instead of Bucky, the way Stan explains, the mantle of Captain America is more of a burden and one that Steve didn’t want to pile on top of his closest friend that has already been through so much trauma.

“Like anybody that ends up traumatized by a war experience, he was affected by it for the rest of his life. So, what felt like a desire there was for a restart — for him and for Steve in a way. It didn’t necessarily feel like the shield was gonna be that. Steve going back in time and saying, ‘I’m gonna take something for me now. I’ve been here for all these guys, and I’ve done the best I could. I’m just a man, and I’m going to go back and try to live my life.’ I feel that is something that Bucky would want for his best friend, and at the same time, Steve is saying to Bucky, ‘You’re going to go and do that, too. I’m not going to put this thing on you. We’re both going to live our lives — the lives that were actually taken from us back in the ‘40s when we enlisted.’ So, that’s where I felt they were at the end of the movie. I don’t think there’s a desire or any conflicted thoughts about taking on that mantle. Sam, to me, was always the clear man to take on that mantle for numerous reasons, which also comes with so much more baggage that’s going to be explored in the show. I guess you’ll have to tune into Disney+ to find out why. (Laughs.)”

Well, there are plenty of people who would love to do just that.  Stan estimated that there remained two to three weeks left to shoot.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused much of the world to shut down, and fan’s latest fix of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Black Widow’ has been pushed back, from May 1 to November 6.  It remains to be seen if ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ will arrive before or after that.

Are you still looking forward to the new Marvel shows coming to Disney+?